At the first turning of the third stair Was a slotted window bellied like the figs's fruit And beyond the hawthorn blossom and a pasture scene The broadbacked figure drest in blue and green Enchanted the maytime with an antique flute. At the second turning of the second stair I left them twisting, turning below There were no more faces and the stair was dark, Damp, jagged, like an old man's mouth drivelling, beyond repair, Or the toothed gullet of an aged shark. III At the first turning of the second stair I turned and saw below The same shape twisted on the banister Under the vapour in the fetid air Struggling with the devil of the stairs who wears The deceitful face of hope and of despair. This is the land which ye Shall divide by lot. Under a juniper-tree the bones sang, scattered and shining We are glad to be scattered, we did little good to each other, Under a tree in the cool of the day, with the blessing of sand, Forgetting themselves and each other, united In the quiet of the desert. Lady of silences Calm and distressed Torn and most whole Rose of memory Rose of forgetfulness Exhausted and life-giving Worried reposeful The single Rose Is now the Garden Where all loves end Terminate torment Of love unsatisfied The greater torment Of love satisfied End of the endless Journey to no end Conclusion of all that Is inconclusible Speech without word and Word of no speech Grace to the Mother For the Garden Where all love ends. And the bones sang chirping With the burden of the grasshopper, saying And God said Prophesy to the wind, to the wind only for only The wind will listen. As I am forgotten And would be forgotten, so I would forget Thus devoted, concentrated in purpose. Let the whiteness of bones atone to forgetfulness. The Lady is withdrawn In a white gown, to contemplation, in a white gown. It is this which recovers My guts the strings of my eyes and the indigestible portions Which the leopards reject. And I who am here dissembled Proffer my deeds to oblivion, and my love To the posterity of the desert and the fruit of the gourd. And God said Shall these bones live? shall these Bones live? And that which had been contained In the bones (which were already dry) said chirping: Because of the goodness of this Lady And because of her loveliness, and because She honours the Virgin in meditation, We shine with brightness. II Lady, three white leopards sat under a juniper-tree In the cool of the day, having fed to satiety On my legs my heart my liver and that which had been contained In the hollow round of my skull. Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death Pray for us now and at the hour of our death. Because these wings are no longer wings to fly But merely vans to beat the air The air which is now thoroughly small and dry Smaller and dryer than the will Teach us to care and not to care Teach us to sit still.
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